Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896
June 16, 2025 June 16, 2025 | Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896

Magazine

COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES — SHERIDAN LIBRARIES Students play volleyball on Freshman Quad in 1980, when Kun began his humor column.

Ham on Wry: How to become an obscure novelist

By MICHAEL KUN | May 17, 2021

From 1980 to 1984, when I was very young and very thin and absolutely adorable if your vision was blurry, I wrote a silly humor column for The News-Letter. It was called Ham on Wry. I still don’t know why it was called Ham on Wry. That’s the name the paper’s scruffy editor came up with (hello, Andrew Hurley), and it stuck for four years through a couple more editors (hello, Steve Eisenberg). I probably should have asked one of them what the name of the column meant. They probably would have explained it to me if I’d asked.

COURTESY OF DAVID PORTER (A&S ’76) A photo of Warren captured in 1976, during his time on the paper.

Dotto goes blotto while recalling times floating in News-Letter bravado

By DAVID WARREN | May 17, 2021

I’ve always fancied myself a writer. That’s why I responded when The News-Letter called for more voices, urging, “If you want to say something, write it down, and bring it in” (Friday, Oct. 4, 1974). Congenitally unable to pay careful attention to directions and details, I anonymously sent my article by campus mail and included my campus box address. Russ Smith (A&S ’78), one of the Features Editors, soon paid a visit to Hollander House.

COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES — SHERIDAN LIBRARIES Students protest against apartheid in South Africa in 1986, when Iosso wrote for The News-Letter.

Risky business between The News-Letter’s sheets in the ‘80s

By CLAUDE IOSSO | May 17, 2021

The dream is always the same. I’m writing a screenplay about a teenager fantasizing about his babysitter when my wife flings open the bedroom door. Writing is risky business. Or is it dreaming? I do more than my share of both, and The News-Letter, where I first let my imagination run wild on the printed page, must bear some of the blame.

COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES — SHERIDAN LIBRARIES  Pictured above is the front page of the December 13, 1968 issue, back when Heagney began writing for The News-Letter.

Good luck early on: Working with a talented team at The News-Letter

By PHILIP HEAGNEY | May 17, 2021

When I began college in the fall of 1966, I wanted to do well in some extracurricular activities. I tried out for the football team and lasted two practices. Then I ran cross country during my first two years. I worked on the speech team for a year. I was involved in a campus community service program for three years. 

COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES — SHERIDAN LIBRARIES Yatchisin covered then-student president Michael Steele, pictured with former University President Steven Muller and Robert Friedman in 1981.

Growing up in public

By GEORGE YATCHISIN | May 17, 2021

It’s 1981, a few months after U2 released their debut album Boy. Perhaps the editors at The News-Letter knew a good joke when they saw one, so they assigned a boy to review it. That’s how I, a freshman and not even 18 yet, got to pen a review that’s not quite as embarrassing as I feared it would be upon re-reading it 40 years later. “Since all members of this group are under 21, musical history could be rewritten if this act gets itself together,” I offered in a bet-hedging opening graph. 

COURTESY OF EMILY SCHUSTER Schuster (left) and Jha (right) pictured in the Gatehouse in 1997 when they were both Features Editors.

Eat This!: G is for Gatehouse

By EMILY SCHUSTER and SANDHYA JHA | May 17, 2021

It’s hard to believe that it has been nearly 25 years since the two of us were spending every Wednesday night in the Gatehouse basement, churning out the Features section late into the night and developing valuable skills and a lifelong friendship. After polishing stories from our writers, putting the finishing touches on our own features and laying out pages, we would use our last bit of sleep-deprived, slap-happy creativity to put together the “Cartoons, Etc.” page. This included constructing a quirky Word Find — with themes such as “Parsnip (And Other Words We Like)” and “After This, I Get to Go to Sleep (And Other Things to Be Happy About)” — and of course, writing “Eat This!,” the recipe column.

One of Gum's most memorable stories was covering the address to freshmen by then-University President Steven Muller, pictured in 1987 with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Alfred Carl Toepfer.

A look into The News-Letter in the late 1980s

By ERICA GUM BURSON | May 17, 2021

Walking into the Gatehouse, to the right sat a long table with mismatched chairs. On a good day, pizza had just been delivered. On a bad day, half-empty boxes sat with grease congealing on cold slices. The paper had an arrangement with local pizza places: free pizza in exchange for ads. For hungry News-Letter staff, it was mutually beneficial unless you were a discerning eater. Cokes and Pepsis, regular and diet, were the fuel of choice.

COURTESY OF CALEB DESCHANEL “Henry James Korn and a plastered friend on a recent visit to the Milton S. Eisenhower Library.”

Telling truth to power in the '60s

By HENRY KORN | May 17, 2021

As a precocious kid growing up in the ‘50s, I was a daily New York Times reader and avidly followed the ups and downs of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In the early ‘60s, I chaired a student World Affairs Council in high school and dreamed about becoming secretary of state. 

COURTESY OF RUDY MALCOM In 2016, Baltimore entered into a 10-year Payment in Lieu of Taxes agreement with anchor institutions such as Hopkins Hospital.

How does the University's nonprofit status affect the city?

By KATY WILNER and LEELA GEBO | May 3, 2021

The U.S. government classifies most colleges and universities as nonprofits because of their “educational purposes,” exempting them from federal income taxes. This means that, despite operating four campuses in Baltimore, Hopkins is not legally required to pay the city any property taxes. 

COURTESY OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS ANIME CLUB Professors are now able to integrate anime into their Zoom lecture sessions.

University announces implementation of Japanese media into virtual curriculum

By UwU | April 1, 2021

Due to restrictions for in-person labs, the University announced new changes to its curriculum to accommodate virtual classes. Students enrolled in labs related to biological sciences are now required to watch the Japanese program Cells at Work! along with its spin-off Cells at Work! Code Black. 

COURTESY OF JHNEEDSU FANSITE Azure Fowler, a noted furry in several social circles, has a constant yearning for an intimate, loving and sexual relationship with Jay the Blue Jay.

Freshman falls in love with Jay the Blue Jay sex doll

By BEASTIE ALITY | April 1, 2021

Freshman and self-proclaimed furry Azure Fowler was kicked out of Charles Commons on Wednesday after being found in a lounge area making love to a Jay the Blue Jay sex doll. Witnesses report that Fowler was completely naked except for his mask and that he wouldn’t stop shouting, “Wear a mask please!” 

Trending
Weekly Rundown
News-Letter Magazine